Pre`În*gage" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. PreÎngaged (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
PreÎngaging (?).] To engage by previous contract; to bind or attach
previously; to preoccupy.
But he was preÎngaged by former ties.
Dryden.
Pre`În*gage"ment (?), n. Prior engagement, obligation, or attachment,
as by contract, promise, or affection.
My preÎngagements to other themes were not unknown to those for
whom I was to write.
Boyle.
Pre`Î*rect" (?), v. t. To erect beforehand.
Prees (?), n. Press; throng. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Pre`Îs*tab"lish, v. t. To establish beforehand.
Pre`Îs*tab"lish*ment, n. Settlement beforehand.
Pre`Î*ter"ni*ty (?), n. Infinite previous duration. [R.] "The world's
preÎternity." Cudworth.
Pre`Îx*am`i*na"tion (?), n. Previous examination.
Pre`Îx*am"ine (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. PreÎxamined (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
PreÎxamining.] To examine beforehand.
Pre`Îx*ist" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. PreÎxisted; p. pr. & vb. n.
PreÎxisting.] To exist previously; to exist before something else.
Pre`Îx*ist"ence (?), n. 1. Existence in a former state, or previous to
something else.
Wisdom declares her antiquity and preÎxistence to all the works of
this earth.
T. Burnet.
2. Existence of the soul before its union with the body; -- a doctrine
held by certain philosophers. Addison.